BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University women's basketball team defeated Western New England, 62-49, on Wednesday evening in their first conference match of the season.

The Hawks shot 47.2 percent from the field, while holding their opponents to 33.9 percent shooting from the floor. Roger Williams also led in three pointers with four to Western New England's one.

Sophia Coppola (Madison, Conn.) led the Hawks in points with 19 and was closely followed by Katie Galligan (Pembroke, Mass.) who put up 14 of her own, Coppola also made 100% of her free throws. Caroline Elie (Rockland, Mass.) shot 80% from the field throughout the contest while also getting nine rebounds.

Western New England started off with an early 4-0 lead, which the Hawks quickly took back after Coppola and Galligan showed impressive teamwork making the score 8-0. The game remained relatively close until Roger Williams started pulling away with a score of 19-10. Coppola ended the first quarter with a layup extending the Hawks lead to 23-14 over the Golden Bears. Western New England started scoring again in the second quarter but the Hawks did not back down eventually leading to a score of 36-25 in Roger Williams favor to end the half.

Coppola started the scoring in the second half with two free throws adding to Roger Williams lead. With just under seven minutes left in the third Meg Qualey (Woburn, Mass.) put together a fantastic finishing move with three defenders on her and still managing to score. Elie would get fouled three times in the quarter, making five of the six free throws she was awarded. Elie would also go onto open up the scoring in the fourth with a layup. Qualey continued her dominant performance putting up a layup with two defenders directly in her face. After more scoring back and forth Roger Williams came out on top with a score of 62-49.

Roger Williams (3-2, 1-0 CCC) will continue their string of CCC contests, taking on Suffolk on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 1:00pm at Larry E. Smith and Michael S. Smith Court, followed by another road game for the Hawks in Curry on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Hawks will then close out their regular season fall semester with a home contest against Trinity.